


Take Me Instead

by MackenzieW



Series: In Any Universe (OQ Prompt Party) [12]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Heroes and Villains Universe (Once Upon a Time), OQ Prompt Party 2019, Outlaw Bandit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-03-30 21:37:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19036066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MackenzieW/pseuds/MackenzieW
Summary: When Robin is captured by Queen Snow, Regina is determined to rescue him. The Merry Men, especially Tuck, try to convince her it's a bad idea. Unfortunately, she's too stubborn and sneaky for her own good.





	1. Captured

**Author's Note:**

> Part 1 uses prompt 116. Bandit!OQ - one gets captured/caught, the other has to save them.

### Captured

"Is it true?” Regina asked, bounding into the Merry Men’s camp. They all stopped what they were doing to look at her before turning to Will. She did the same, glaring at him as her heart pounded in her chest. Every part of her felt on fire and she felt odd standing still.  

He approached her with his hands up as if she were a wounded animal about to attack. ”Regina...”  

“Answer my question,” she snapped at him. “Are the rumors true?”  

She didn’t have to clarify which rumors she was talking about—the villagers were only talking about one thing. Regina held Will’s gaze until he sighed and looked down. “Yes. Robin ahs been captured by the queen.”  

Her stomach turned and she swallowed down the bile rising up her throat. She had known the rumors were true but part of her had hoped they weren’t. Regina squared her shoulders as she asked: “When do we rescue him?”  

“We--the Merry Men—are planning that right now,” he told her. “You are going to go back to your camp and wait.”  

Anger filled her and she stepped closer, standing nose-to-nose with him. “I don’t take orders from you.”  

“Those are Robin’s orders,” he explained calmly.  

“Robin’s not my leader. I don’t have to follow his orders,” she said, backing away. “You can’t keep me from rescuing him.”  

“We’ve been told to use any means necessary to keep you from going,” he replied. She realized the other Merry Men were surrounding her now, cutting off her chance to escape.  

Swallowing, Regina grew defiant. “You have a code. You act with honor. Is it honorable to hold someone against their will?”  

“It is if we are trying to save that person’s life,” Tuck said, emerging from the group and approaching her. He motioned for Will to back away and took Regina’s hands. “Why don’t we talk in my tent?” 

She wanted to trust Friar Tuck, who had given her a good deal of counsel since she had struck up an alliance with Robin Hood in order to get the insufferable prat to stop stealing jobs from her.  But he was loyal to Robin. She knew it would be easy for him to sedate her and keep her from joining the rescue party if she went to his tent. If they stayed out in the open, though, it gave the other man a chance to ambush her. She decided to go to the one place where they wouldn’t dare do anything.  

“I want to talk in Robin’s tent,” she said.  

Tuck raised an eyebrow but nodded. He placed his hand on her back and led her to a large tent in the middle of the camp. Pulling back one of the flaps, he let her enter first before following her.  

Regina stood in the middle of Robin’s sanctuary, taking it all in. He had a bedroll near the back of the tent. Several furs were neatly laid over it and he even had a pillow. It almost looked like a proper bed. 

He had a chest which also doubled as his desk, judging by the maps and quills scattered over it. She wondered what he kept in the chest as she swore she always saw him in the same outfit. Perhaps there were weapons or other treasures in there. Or maybe books, she considered as she eyed the ones stacked by the chest. They looked well-worn and dog-eared, meaning he had read them over and over.  

“Do you want to sit?” Tuck asked, motioning to where Robin had chairs made of leather stretched over wood. They looked like he could easily fold them up and transport them when they broke camp in order to move.  

She nodded, sitting in one. Regina spotted a kettle and two tea cups. Tuck noticed what she was looking at and chuckled. “Robin and I like to have some tea when we talk. Would you like some?”  

“No, thank you,” she said, knowing she couldn’t accept anything from them.  

His smile drooped. “I’m not going to drug you.”  

“But you’re going to convince me not to go rescue Robin,” she countered. “We all know it’s because of me.”  

Tuck nodded. “And if you go, you will walk into the Queen’s trap. He doesn’t want that for you.”  

“That’s not his decision to make,” she countered. “Why wouldn’t he want to trade my life for his?”  

“The same reason you want to trade your life for his,” Tuck replied softly. “Love.”  

Her breath caught in her throat. She had only admitted the full extent of her feelings for Robin to herself about a week earlier. Allowed herself to accept that she enjoyed spending time with him and that she found their conversations enjoyable, even when they were in the middle of a passionate debate. She loved how good and honorable he was—even for a thief—and how he cared about the less fortunate. He was a handsome man and his heart of gold made him even handsomer in her eyes. Regina found herself imagining a future with him, finally achieving everything she thought would always just be out of her reach—love and a family.  

While she knew the extent of her feelings for him, she wasn’t sure if his feelings were quite the same. She knew he cared about her but he cared about everyone. He went out of his way to help whoever needed it, so he wasn’t treating her any differently. At least, that’s what she told herself.  

“Love?” she asked in a whisper.  

Tuck nodded. “That’s why he really called off his wedding to Zelena. He realized that he really didn’t love her—he was just comfortable with her because they had known each other so long. You awakened something deeper in him, something real, he said.”  

“He did the same for me,” she said. “When he was talking about meeting someone and knowing their eyes were the ones you were destined to spend the rest of your life looking into...I lied and told him I didn’t know that feeling. But I had just experienced it. I could spend the rest of my life looking into his eyes and for a moment, I thought he was talking about my eyes.”  

“He may have been, even if he didn’t realize it at the time,” Tuck said. “He does now.”  

She smiled before it fell. “Were...were our feelings that obvious? I mean, the Queen figured out that capturing him was a good way to lure me out.”  

Tuck chuckled. “You kinda were. Really, the only two who seemed oblivious about your feelings for each other were you. Everyone else could see it within seconds of watching you two together. It’s why we accepted you so quickly. We realized that what he shared with you was different and deeper than what he shared with Zelena.”  

“And now he’s the Queen’s prisoner because of them,” she said. “Who knows what she’s doing to him? And she will kill him, just to punish me.”  

He reached out and covered her hand with one of his. “We’re not going to let that happen. We’re expert thieves, Regina, we can steal our leader back. But you need to stay here. We can’t worry about you and him. And we can’t let the Queen have what she wants.”  

Regina took a shuddering breath, nodding. “Okay, I’ll stay here.”  

“Promise me,” he said.  

“I promise,” she replied.  

He nodded, standing. “You stay here. I’m going to find out what the plan is and I’ll be back to tell you.”  

“Thank you, Tuck,” she said. He gave her a reassuring smile before slipping out of the tent.  

Regina then removed a shaky arm from behind her back. She slowly uncrossed her two fingers before standing. She hated to deceive Tuck but she knew what she had to do. Robin was in danger because of her. No matter what he felt, it was up to her to rescue him. She loved him too much to not do anything.  

Taking the items off his chest, she was able to open it. His unused wedding clothes lay inside, right under his spare bow and a quiver with arrows in them. She took them as well as a knife she found stored in there as well. Running her hand along the material at the back of the tent, she found an opening. She peeked out of it. There was a clear path to the forest and no one around, everyone no doubt focused on their plan to rescue Robin.  

Before slipping out, she spotted a spare cloak of Robin’s. She grabbed it and then left the tent, donning it as she escaped the camp. Regina raced off to where she knew the Queen would be waiting with Robin.  

It was time for her to fight for her love this time.  

And hopefully, it didn’t have the same outcome as when Snow fought for Prince James. 


	2. Rescued

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regina breaks into Snow's palace to rescue Robin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uses prompt 34. One of them gets injured and the other has to take care of them

### Rescued

Queen Snow was waiting for her.  

Regina knew it even before she approached the foreboding black palace but it was even more obvious when she didn’t see a single black guard. It was as if Snow had rolled out the welcome mat for her—she was able to just walk right in and fall into whatever trap the queen had set for her.  

She would’ve hoped after all these years, Snow would know she was far smarter than that.  

From her perch in one of the tallest trees by the palace, Regina took in all her other options as she tried to figure which was the one Snow wouldn’t expect her to use to enter. She spotted a balcony that led to what had been Queen Eva’s chambers. Queen Snow had kept them locked since her mother’s tragic passing but Regina knew she could access the servants’ corridors from it. Those were a network of passageways that spanned the entire palace and could get her right to the dungeons without being spotted. It was her best option to rescue Robin without alerting anyone to her presence.  

She decided to leap from tree to tree until she got close enough to the palace. Regina then carefully walked out on a branch that extended toward the balcony, arms raised out to help her keep her balance. She kept her eyes trained ahead, knowing that looking down would scare her and send her tumbling. The branch shook with her every move and she held her breath as she carefully took each step. When it started to get too narrow, she gathered up her courage and jumped. Reaching out, she was able to grab onto the balcony’s railing and pull herself over it, landing on the sturdy surface as she finally released the breath she had been holding.  

Knowing she couldn’t waste any time, she pulled out her lockpick and quickly opened the door. Regina crept inside, closing th door quietly behind her. It was clear no one had been in the room for years. The air was so still it was as if there was none. A musty smell hung in the room and a fine layer of dust covered everything. She frowned, knowing it would reveal bootprints but it was a risk she was going to have to take. Hopefully she had a good headstart before anyone discovered them.  

Regina kept her steps light as she crossed the room to the hiddden servant’s entrance. Though not locked, the door had warped from disuse and neglect. She had to throw her entire weight against it to open it, a loud squeak echoing through the corridors. Her heart hammered in her chest and she walked off at a brisk pace, knowing waiting to see if anyone heard her would cost her valuable time.  

She knew the servants’ corridors well. She had been raised to serve as Queen Snow’s handmaiden and so had learned to navigate the maze running behind the walls in the palace as a young girl. It helped her keep up her fast pace and she knew where to turn as well as where to avoid. The palace wasn’t as active as it had been when King Leopold and Queen Eva were alive. Coupled with Snow’s mistrust of most people, the palace had only a skeletal crew. Regina figured they kept to only a few parts of the palace and avoided them until she arrived at the entrance to the dungeons.  

The dungeons always terrified Regina. Almost no sunlight reached the floor, requiring the use of torches whose flames did little to dispel the cold that permeated the area. Because prisoners were forced to relieve themselves in the hay they used for beds and were denied baths, the dungeons always stunk with the foulest odor she had ever had the displeasure to smell. Pain and death clung to every stone there, especially as the dungeon was where prisoners were tortured. Revolutionaries, traitors, spies and others deemed to be enemy of the crown experienced horrible agony in an attempt to get information out of them, to break them, to punish them. Death was guaranteed if one was sent to the dungeons—either from torture or from an execution.  

She wasn’t sure which was better.  

Queen Eva had always tried to shelter the girls from the horrors of the dungeons, which Regina always appreciated. Snow, though, was fascinated by the different instruments of torture and seemed excited the few times they attended torture sessions. Looking back, that should’ve been an indicator of the person she would become but they all hoped she wouldn’t go down that dark path. King Leopold and Queen Eva did their best to teach Snow about goodness and kindness and for a while, it appeared that it was working.  

And then Snow met Prince James, who was cruel and vain. He had been raised by his father, King George, to be a heartless warrior and he enjoyed inflicting pain a little too much for Regina’s liking. The same was true for King Leopold and Queen Eva. While an arrangement with King George’s kingdom was appealing, they wanted to keep Snow far away from the prince and so rejected the offer of marriage. 

Unfortunately, that set off a chain of events that ended in tragedy. Snow and James had fallen in love and decided that if her parents weren’t going to be together, they would just kill the king and queen and declare themselves rulers of Mist Haven. They enacted their bloody plan before King George was set to leave. Regina had been engaged in an innocent affair with the stable master, Daniel, and so she had been sneaking back into her room by Snow’s chambers when James emerged from the royal suite covered in blood. It horrified her and she had screamed. He lunged for her to silence her and she pulled a knife from her boot, hoping to wound him. She miscalculated, though, and ended up driving the blade right into his heart. He gasped and his eyes widened before the light drained from them. James collapsed at her feet, lifeless.  

Everything happened in a blur after that. People streamed into the corridor and discovered three dead royals. King George began shouting for Regina’s head and Snow collapsed, holding her dead love’s body. She vowed that Regina would pay with her life. Guards tried to seize her but she ran, slipping out of the palace in the confusion. Daniel helped her escape and she had been living in the woods, trying to stay one step ahead of Queen Snow the entire time.  

She shivered as she walked through the dungeons, knowing what Snow would do to her if she found Regina there. Regina pulled the cloak she had stolen from Robin’s tent around her to ward off the chill and to disguise herself for a bit longer should someone encounter her there. Checking every cell, her heart sank as she found each empty. Where were all the prisoners she knew Snow had taken? Had they all been killed? Or were they being kept elsewhere—Robin included?  

Despair filled her until she looked into the last cell. A man lay with his back to her but she knew it had to be Robin with his blond hair and familiar green jerkin. She rushed forward, dropping to her knees as she shook him. “Robin? Robin, it’s me, Regina. I’ve come to rescue you.”  

“My hero,” the man snarled. Regina's blood froze as she realized the voice didn’t belong to Robin but to David, the Queen’s right-hand man. He was Prince James’ twin brother and Snow had made him her slave in an attempt to recapture what she had had with James.  

She tried to get back to her feet but she kept slipping on the hay. David easily wrapped his arm around her and she felt the cool metal of his knife at his throat. “I’ll bring you to your precious Robin,” he hissed in her ear.  

He dragged her into the torture room. She spotted Robin tied to a rack, shirtless but seemingly unharmed. When he saw her, his eyes widened in panic. “Regina, no!” 

“Looks like you guessed wrong, thief,” Snow said, emerging from the shadows. She wore a black corset with blood red lacing paired with a long black coat and black leather pants. Her cold green eyes focused on Regina, her red lips smirking. “Your outlaw thought you wouldn’t bother to save him but I knew better. Love is weakness, Regina, and he is yours.”  

“Let him go,” Regina said. “It’s me you want so take me. Do whatever you want with me. I deserve it. He doesn’t.”  

Snow laughed. “Yes, you do deserve as much pain as I can possibly inflict. And he may not deserve it, though he is a thief who has stolen from me—mostly robbing me of chances to capture you. So maybe he does deserve it after all. I don’t know.  

“What I do know is that he is important to you. You’ve proven that by showing up here and offering to trade places with him,” she continued, gripping Regina’s cheeks. She forced Regina to look into her eyes, full of hatred. “I want you to feel the same pain I felt when you took the man I loved from me. You’re going to watch me torture the man you love and watch the life drain from his eyes once death comes for him.”  

“No, Snow, please,” Regina pleaded.  

The queen, though, turned and approached a defiant-looking Robin. She grabbed a poker from where it sat in a fire, the tip glowing red. Bile rose up in Regina’s throat as Snow pressed it against Robin’s chest, burning him. He clenched his teeth and arched his back, hands clutching onto the chains holding him captive. Snow held the poker there and Regina started to smell burning flesh, afraid the queen was going to burn a hole through his body.  

After an eternity, Robin yelled out in pain. Snow removed the poker, smirking. She placed it back in the fire, looking back at Regina. “There’s plenty of skin to mark like this.”  

She brushed her fingers over the black hole on his chest, causing Robin to cry out again. Closing her eyes, she smiled. “Beautiful music.”  

“You’re a monster,” he hissed.  

“Oh, trust me,” she said, opening her eyes as she smiled. She removed the poker from the fire again. “You have no idea how monstrous I can be.”  

She pressed the poker to his chest again, dangerously close to his heart. He cried out immediately this time and Regina’s legs gave out. The only thing keeping her from hitting the floor was David’s arm around her. He did lower his knife and when she glanced up, she saw he was looking away and his skin had gone pale.  

Despite his distracted state, Regina knew she wouldn’t be able to save Robin. If she made even an attempt, Snow would no doubt just plunge the poker into his heart and burn it up, killing him. She felt as if she had no choice but watch him be tortured, each scream of his ripping her heart into pieces and making her feel powerless. He had called Snow the monster but Regina believed she was the one—she had known what dangers even striking up a friendship with him could bring and she had stupidly fallen in love with him. She should’ve stayed away and now he was paying the price for her selfishness, a price she couldn’t save him from. Didn’t that make her a monster?  

“You look pale, dear,” Snow taunted her. She shook her head. “You never appreciated the art that happened in this room. You were always too weak.”  

“Art? You call pain and death art?” she asked, feeling sick as she looked up at the queen. She had spent years denying the darkness that had lurked in Snow’s heart but now wondered if there had been any good in her. “You are evil.”  

Snow crouched down, snarling: “So are you. I guess that makes us the same, huh?”  

“She is nothing like you,” Robin gasped out, his voice cracking from the pain.  

“How sweet,” the queen said, mocking him. “Defending your lady love to the very end. Well, not quite the end. I have plenty more fun in store for you.”  

He glared at her, breathing heavily as the black marks on his chest no doubt caused unimaginable pain. “Do your worse. Just let her go.”  

“Nope,” she replied. “Regina needs to pay, needs to understand how I’ve suffered. And you need to suffer for that to happen.” 

She reached for the poker again when smoke billowed into the room. Queen Snow looked around, startled. “What is that? David, go investigate!”  

“What about Regina?” he asked, his knife returning to her neck.  

“I’ll keep an eye on her. Go!” Snow ordered.  

David dropped Regina and started toward where the smoke came from. He didn’t get far when he was attached by several hooded men. More burst in from another door, all brandishing bows and swords.  

The Merry Men had arrived.  

Snow conjured up a fireball but one of the Merry Men was faster, shooting a dart into her neck. Though she pulled it out, it had done its damage as she started to waver on her feet. She eventually sank to the floor, her eyes closing as the sedative took effect.  

With David overwhelmed trying to fight ten men at once, Regina took her chance. She rose on shaky legs, rushing forward to pick the locks holding Robin captive. “I’m so sorry,” she said.  

“Apologize later,” one of the men said as he helped her hold up Robin. She recognized the voice as Will’s. “Let’s just get you both out of here.”  

Another pushed her out of the way to bear Robin’s weight and they dragged him out of the dungeons. She followed, being supported by two more Merry Men. They led her to a small door at the very back of the dungeons. Emerging into the twilight, Regina took a breath of fresh air. She let them guide her to a horse, mounting one. Robin sat on another with Will supporting him. Once they were sure they all got out of the dungeons, they took off before David could send the Black Guards after them.  

They had gotten away but Regina knew the damage had already been done.  

* * *

“Are you sure this will help?” Regina asked, laying aloe leaves soaked in some tincture on Robin’s burns. 

Tuck nodded. “Yes. He will bear the scars, I can’t do much for that, but this should help with the pain as his skin repairs itself.” 

“I’m awake,” Robin said, though his eyes were closed. “Please don’t talk as if I’m not.” 

“Sorry,” Tuck replied. “How do you feel?” 

Robin groaned. “I’ve definitely had better days but I’ve also had worse.” 

“Do you need anything?” Tuck asked. 

Opening his eyes, Robin said: “Time alone with Regina, please.” 

Tuck nodded, handing her the bowl he had been holding. “Keep applying these. I won’t be far if you need me.” 

She thanked him and watched as he left. Regina placed a leaf on another mark, a lump forming in her throat. “I’m so sorry, Robin. You shouldn’t have to suffer because of me.” 

“I will gladly suffer for you,” he said. “But you shouldn’t have come for me.” 

Regina bowed her head, knowing he was right. Had she not shown  up,  Snow wouldn’t have tortured him. All he would’ve had was some chafing from the restraints. Instead, she had made it worse. 

Of course, she hadn’t known Snow would wait and torture Robin in her presence. She figured the queen would’ve already been torturing him to get information out of him. Regina had thought Snow would’ve released him immediately when presented with the chance to finally have Regina. 

She didn’t know how she could’ve been so wrong. 

Well, perhaps she did. She still hoped there was good in Snow no matter how many times her former friend had shown her there wasn’t any. “I’m a fool.” 

“No, you’re not,” he replied. “And you’re not a monster. You are a brave, strong, kind woman who cannot stand to see anyone else get punished for another’s crimes.” 

“But I put you in danger,” she said. 

He shrugged before hissing in pain. She reached out, stroking his cheek. “Can I get you something to dull the pain?” 

“Not yet,” he said, wheezing a bit. “It will also sedate me and I am not ready to sleep.” 

She nodded, leaning back as she placed leaves on the last of his marks. He reached up and took her hand in his. “I put myself in danger, Regina, every day. Many people, especially the Sheriff of Nottingham, would love to see me hanging from the tallest tree they can find. Knowing you, caring for you puts me in no  greater  danger.” 

Anger returned to Regina and she met his eyes, glaring at him. “No greater danger? She was going to torture you to death. Burn you, stretch you, break bones, draw blood, disembowel you, put hot coals inside you, and remove your skin. It would’ve been unbearable agony until your body just gave out.” 

I’m sure the Sheriff...” he started. 

“No!” she snapped. “He doesn’t want to hurt you that way. And if he did, it wouldn’t be because of me. Because I love you.” 

She sobbed, pressing her hand to her mouth to stifle it as tears rolled down her cheeks. Regina shook as the reality of what she had confessed hit her. No longer did she hold it back, did she deny it. She loved him. 

And that put a target on his back. 

He, though, smiled. “I love you too, Regina. I know we haven’t known each other long but the more I know you, the more I admire and love the woman you are.” 

“But look what I’ve cost you,” she said, motioning to his blemished skin. 

“It’s fine,” he replied. “You heard Tuck. I’ll heal.” 

“With scars,” she pointed out. 

He smirked.  “I  figure they’ll just make me more rugged and appear more dangerous.” 

She rolled her eyes. “You’re infuriating, Robin. Don’t you have any self-preservation instincts? I’m dangerous to even know.” 

“I’d rather know you than not,” he said. “I don’t care how dangerous it is. But if you let me and my men help you, we can lessen that danger. There’s safety in numbers, Regina. Join us. Please.” 

Regina trembled. “You could all be killed.”

“We can all be killed even without knowing you,” he reminded her. “But now we would have a noble cause to die for.” 

“I’m not noble or a cause,” she protested. 

“We disagree.” 

She frowned. “You may disagree. I’m not sure about your men.” 

“My men may be loyal but they also will tell me when they think I’ve lost my mind,” he told her. “When it came to you, they agree with me that we need to protect you.” 

“Why? I’m nobody,’ she said. 

He frowned. “If I didn’t hate the queen already, I would for what she’s done to you. You are a somebody who should have a life full of love and friendship and happiness. You shouldn’t be chased because you defended yourself from someone who had just killed the king and queen. You aren’t defined by that one decision, no matter how much she has forced you to believe you are.” 

Tears continued to flow down her cheeks and he reached out, brushing them off. “It’s time for you to define who you are, Regina. To fight back against who she wants you to be and be the person you are. And I hope you will do it here, with us...with me.” 

She leaned forward, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. He responded eagerly, reaching up to entwine his fingers in her hair. Robin broke the kiss as he cried out in pain and she forced him to lay still. 

Tuck burst back into the tent, frowning. “I think it’s time you took something for the pain. You need to rest.” 

“I agree,” she said, taking his hand. “Please?” 

“Will you be here when I wake?” he asked. 

She nodded. “I will be. You’re right. It’s time.” 

He smiled and Tuck handed her some leaves. “Brew this for him and make sure he drinks it all,” he told her. 

Regina did just that, helping Robin sit up so he could drink his tea. She held the cup for him so he didn’t aggravate his wounds. Once he finished, she helped him recline again. His eyes began to close and she ran her fingers through his hair, watching his breathing even out. Once she was certain he was asleep, she kissed his forehead. 

“Here you go,” Tuck said, startling her. She turned to find him standing there with her bedroll and furs. “Little John and Will went to your hovel and broke it down. They brought all your things here. We’re storing it my tent until we figure out where you’ll sleep. But for now, I’m sure you want to sleep here.”

She nodded, taking her things. “Thank you. But how did you know...?” 

He chuckled. “Once again, we’re one step ahead of you and Robin. You two really are more obvious than you realize.” 

Tuck wished her a good night and she set up her bed by Robin’s. Lying down, she rolled onto her side so she could watch him until sleep claimed her. She knew she would probably wake several times during the night to check on him but it would be worth it to make sure he wasn’t in pain and to assure herself that he was alive. There was a lot for them to work out but that could wait.

For now, he loved her and she loved him. It was more than she ever thought she would get in this life. And it was enough to spark hope inside her. 

Maybe a happy ending was possible after all. 


End file.
